A hotel is being constructed in the downtown area of a medium-sized Midwestern city. It’s to be connected by skywalk to a nearby arena and convention center.

Part of the hotel project is being financed with public money. Some in the community, and on the City Council, questioned and opposed it.

This scenario, of course, took place in Peoria. But it also took place almost 300 miles to the south, in Evansville, Ind.

Besides location, the projects diverge in other ways, perhaps more profound ones.

When the rehabilitation of the Marriott Pere Marquette and construction of adjacent lodging was proposed in Peoria, it was done largely in stealth. With great reluctance, city officials revealed plans to a Journal Star reporter on a Friday evening, four nights before a vote was to take place.

That hardly was true in Evansville, where a 257-room Hilton DoubleTree hotel is under construction and set to open next year.

According to Evansville Mayor Lloyd Winnecke, external input regarding the $71.3 million project — which includes an apartment complex and a parking garage — was imperative. And lengthy.

Evansville had public meetings in each of its six wards, Winnecke said. He also said support was overwhelming in a city that for years has not had a hotel capable of handling convention trade.

“You might have a naysayer here and there,” Winnecke said. “But people understood it was important for Evansville, the third-largest city in the state, to be in the convention and meeting business.”

The effort also required a significant amount of personal persuasion regarding council members. Winnecke is a Republican, and Democrats have an 8-1 advantage on the Evansville council (there are three at-large seats).

Still, approval to spend up to $37.5 million in civic funds appeared doomed until an Evansville-based banking chain, Old National, committed up to $14 million in equity. The council capped the public subsidy at $20 million.

Granted, Peoria didn’t quite have a similar white knight to shave its $36 million share of a $100 million project. But at least initially, before the effort was delayed by the Great Recession and other factors, the city didn’t give the public much of a chance to claim a stake.

That’s a mistake, Winnecke suggested.

“We pulled people along on the education front: Here’s what we think, here’s what it’s going to take to get it done,” the Evansville mayor said. “And people started buying into it.”

Said Bob Warren, a 30-year professional who leads the Evansville Convention and Visitors Bureau: “It was probably the most actively engaged I’ve ever seen a community. And we walked away from it with a great product.”

Page 2 of 3 - That product already is being enhanced. Indiana University plans to construct a medical school in downtown Evansville. The city is funding about $35 million of the school’s projected $85 million cost.

“There’s a buzz in our city that hasn’t been here in years,” Winnecke said.

There’s plenty of buzz about the Peoria hotels, but a lot of it isn’t necessarily positive.

Much has been made about the impending management change at the Pere Marquette and soon-to-open Courtyard by Marriott. Again, transparency has been an issue. So has the developer’s financial wherewithal.

We think this project is a vital part of Downtown redevelopment efforts. It needs to succeed. But it also was too vital to have been rushed and to be done without a thorough public vetting.

In some ways, the Peoria project still is trying to overcome its rocky start. The road to Evansville is long, but that city’s final result appears much more smooth. (N.V.)

Evansville up at bat

By the way, did we also mention Evansville also is constructing a multidiamond youth baseball and softball complex similar to the Louisville Slugger Sports Complex to be built in Northwest Peoria?

Warren’s group is owning, operating and paying for the $15.5 million project. Like the Louisville Slugger project, it’s being constructed near a residential neighborhood. According to Warren, it’s one of the largest neighborhoods in Vandenburgh County.

Many Peoria neighbors were loud and clear in their opposition to the Louisville Slugger site, based on noise and traffic the complex might generate. In Evansville?

“We never had a demonstrator show up at all,” Warren said. “We didn’t have a single person stand up and say, ‘we don’t want this.’”

The Evansville complex is to open next year. (N.V.)

More baseball

It was generally an apolitical atmosphere Wednesday at the unveiling of the Ray LaHood Highway, with Democrats praising Republicans and Republicans sharing the love with Democrats.

The closest it got to a split audience was when Gov. Pat Quinn hazarded a joke while talking up the benefits of high-speed rail for Illinois — a cornerstone of LaHood’s legacy as transportation secretary.

One of the reasons Quinn said the state needs faster trains sounded reasonable enough, at least from this column’s vantage point: “We want Cub fans to get to St. Louis as fast as possible to Busch Stadium.” (C.K.)